President Joe Biden vows to hit back at the strict abortion ban laws that have been implemented across most of Texas.
Biden is calling the new law an “unprecedented assault on constitutional rights” vowing to impose a “whole of government” response.
According to the new Texas law all individuals have the right to sue those involved with providing or facilitating an abortion past the 6-week pregnancy mark. This means that any abortions undertaken after the 6-week mark are illegal.
The implementation of the law has been labelled by campaigners the “Texas Heartbeat Act”. This refers to the prohibition on abortions after a foetal heartbeat can be detected.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have spoken out calling the term “misleading”. Medically speaking, the heartbeat that is detected at 6 weeks is only a “portion of the foetal tissue hat will become the heart” as the embryo grows and develops.
Following a 5-4 Supreme Court vote, rights activists have had their bid to block the law denied.
Let me get this straight…
In Texas a guy can rape a woman and then if she gets an abortion 7 weeks later he can collect a $10k bounty for reporting her?
Does anyone else think this is barbaric?
— Chip Franklin🏛InsideTheBeltway.com (@chipfranklin) September 2, 2021
Although the judges have outwardly said the decision was not based on constitutional grounds, they have flagged the idea of room for legal changes.
President Biden has since spoken, saying that the court’s decision will eventuate to “unconstitutional chaos”.
Within his statement, Biden directed the White House counsel and his Gender Policy Council to investigate how the government could “ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions” along with access to the legal tools to protect women and providers from the impact of “outsourced enforcement to private parties”.
Biden also stated that there would be a particular focus on the action through the Department of Health and Human services and the Department of Justice.
The president is not alone in his venture to ban the new law, with Texas abortion providers also looking for ways to combat it.
Andrea Ferrigno of Whole Woman’s Health is just one of the many women’s health providers to speak out.
Patients have expressed “despair” and state they have felt “pressured and rushed to make a decision”, she told the BBC.
Currently women who have surpassed the 6-week pregnancy mark are being struck with rejection across the state.
Before Texas’ despicable abortion ban went into effect, @WholeWomans stayed open until midnight giving as many women necessary reproductive care as they could.
Thank you, WWH, for consistently being a leader for reproductive justice. We’re with you.https://t.co/qUGtAD731h
— Women’s March (@womensmarch) September 2, 2021
Mara Posada of Planned Parenthood in San Antonio described calls often resulting in “letting a person know they cannot get an abortion after six weeks…or referring them to a provider that is currently providing abortion care under the limits”.
The lead up to the enforcement saw double the usual patients coming to planned Parenthood , with people trying to salvage their final chance to undergo an abortion within the state.
